Awaken Hot Yoga Studio Has a Life of its Own

Ali Lazenby Todd likes to think that anyone who walks through the doors of Awaken Hot Yoga feels right at home.

Since opening the studio in Lighthouse Point, Fla., two years ago, Todd has enhanced the community feel by offering a large variety of classes for yoga students to choose from, but also where people care about one another.

"Our teachers and students sweat together, cry together and support each other," Todd said. "Community is an important factor at our studio where people begin to care about one another, a place where they begin to share things that are important to one another. Sharing those breakthroughs and growth is what a yoga community should be about."

Todd faced a few curveballs along her journey to becoming the owner of Awaken Hot Yoga, but the end result speaks for itself. She spent some time in Los Angeles in order to become a yoga teacher through Core Power, where her closing speech as a student detailed her plans of owning her own studio some day.

"I didn't know where or when, but life has a funny way of working out," Todd recalled. "A friend invited me to Jupiter, Fla. and it all lead from there. I decided this is the place for me. I wanted to live in Florida, but didn't know how. Then fate delivered me a Yoga studio for sale in Lighthouse Point. I went back to London told my family and then began this new journey living the dream."

All egos are left at the door upon entering Awaken Hot Yoga. The entire staff and student body is warm and welcoming, and newcomers are always encouraged to step along for the voyage.

Todd told of a new student joining recently, a student who wouldn't leave the studio empty handed. A regular student at Awaken Hot Yoga decided to buy the new student a yoga towel, just for the heck of it.

"I thought that was so sweet," Todd said.

Membership fees are affordable at Awaken Hot Yoga, enabling more students to reap the benefits of both the mental and physical aspects of yoga.

"We are not about the business of yoga," Todd said. "We are about yoga."